ASIA AT A

GLANCE
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

OVERVIEW:

The world is approximately 4.6

billion years old. Asia is considered
to be the largest continent in the
world. It has an area of 44, 936,
000 square kilometers (17, 250,000
square miles), almost one third of
the world land surface of the earth.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

Theories on the
Origin of Asia
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

THE PLATE TECTONIC THEORY

the crust of the Earth’s surface is made

up of vast continental and oceanic
plates. These are in constant motion,
rubbing and pushing against one
another, moving only small amounts
each year.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

In 1912, Alfred Wegener proposed that

throughout most of geologic time there
was only one continental mass, which
he named Pangea. At some time during
the Mesozoic Era, Pangea fragmented
and the parts began to drift apart.
Westward drift of the Americas opened
the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian
block drifted across the Equator to join
with Asia.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

In 1937 the South African Alexander Du

Toit modified Wegener’s Theory by
suggesting the existence of two
primordial continents: Laurasia in the
North and Gondwanaland in the South.
Gondwanaland included the present
continents of South America, Africa and
the Indian subcontinent. Laurasia
included North America, Europe and
Asia.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

THE NAME ASIA

The Etymology of the term “ Asia” is derived

from the Akkadian word “Asu” which means
to go out or to ascend, referring to the
direction of the sun at sunrise in the Middle
East, and also likely connected with the
Phoenician word “asa” meaning East.
The Chinese calls it Ashiya , believed to be a
transliteration of the European name
introduced by Ricci, an Italian Jesuit
missionary.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

It was said that there was once a single

land mass called EURASIA (Euro-Asiatic
continent) into two parts known to
them, Europe and Asia. These
geographers have divided Asia into
three geographical areas: the Near
East, Middle East and the Far East.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

THE PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES OF ASIA

Asia is bounded in the North by the Arctic Ocean

up to the Bering Sea. In the East is the Pacific
Ocean and in the South by Timor Sea, Indian
Ocean and Arabian Sea. The Mediterranean Red
Sea, Mount Caucasus and the Ural Mountains
bound the Western part of Asia.
Asia has a total land area of 17,000, 000 square
miles or approximately 43, 608,000 square
kilometers. Asia alone is one third of the surface
of the Earth.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

WATER FORMS

Except for the Atlantic Ocean , Asia is

surrounded by three great body of
water, the Pacific Ocean in the East,
the Indian Ocean in the South and
Arctic Ocean in the North.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

PHYSICAL SUBDIVISIONS

Asia is subdivided into five regions.

These regions, together with their
respective countries are:
1. North Asia- composed of Armenia,
Azerbaijan , Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia (in Asia) Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

2. Southwest Asia- The countries are:

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran,
Iraq, the Levant (Syria, Israel, Jordan
and Lebanon), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Turkey (Asia Minor), the
United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
3. South Asia- It includes Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

4. East Asia- it is composed of China,

Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South
Korea, and Taiwan.
5. Southeast Asia- This region is
composed of Brunei, Cambodia, East
Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

THE ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Natural Resources include all the gifts of nature. The

wide range of climate in Asia makes possible the
growth of a great variety of forest and agricultural
products. In the temperate regions, typical
temperate crops such as wheat, vines and other
fruit trees are raised. In the Southern regions, such
important crops as sugar cane, rice, cotton, spices,
bananas and coconuts are raised in huge quantities.
Asia is fabulously rich in minerals. Gold, diamonds,
rubies and other precious stones are mined in
various countries in Asia.
 KAREN BELEN FELICES-PEREZ, MPA

THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

There are three principal races that inhabit the
continent of Asia.
1. The Yellow or Mongolian race- principally found in
Japan, Korea, China, most of Central Asia and the
Indo-China peninsula.
2. The Caucasian or White Race- predominates in
India, Pakistan and most of the countries West
Pakistan.
3. The Brown or Malay Race- prevails in the
Philippines, Indonesia , Malay Peninsula and other
islands in the south sea.